Shadows in a Nebula
by Twilight PhoenixFyre
Summary: In Neo Domino, there is an group known as 'The Star-Chasers'. But now, one of them seems to have gone missing... Meanwhile, in the Satellite, Yusei and the Enforcers have taken in a young amnesiac... 'T' for violence/cursing later on
1. Prologue, Found

**Kairi: Okay, so this is just something I've had laying around in one of my folders for a few… um… well, at least a year now. I've got a bunch of plot bunnies written out for it, but I'm not sure if I want to post the whole story or not. So here's the prologue…**

Kalin was impatient and uncomfortable. Yusei should have been back hours before. What was taking him so long? The blue-haired teen was sitting at the table, contemplating this, when Crow burst into the door.

"Kalin! We got a message from Yusei! He wants us to meet him over at the abandoned factory," the carrot-head said quickly. Kalin stood up.

"Could it be a trap?" Kalin asked. Jack ran in behind Crow.

"Even if it is, we can beat the idiots that laid it," he said. Kalin nodded.

"Alright. Yusei's been gone long enough, so let's just go. We'll find out soon enough," Kalin decided. The other two teens nodded, and grabbed their duel disks. Within a couple of minutes, all three boys were on their way to the abandoned factory. They were cautious, uncertain as to whether the message from Yusei was exactly that or a trap. However, as they reached the factory, they were beginning to fear that it was indeed a trap.

Not a sound could be heard. Yusei was nowhere in sight. But the chain that normally kept people out of the factory was broken, and it looked like something had smashed into the fence. Something big, and definitely heavy. Then they heard someone cry out in pain.

"That sounded like Yusei!" Crow shouted. Jack and Kalin nodded in agreement before all three of them broke into a run. The next thing they heard chilled them to the bone.

"W—Was that a roar?" Crow stuttered. And indeed, it had sounded like the roar of a dragon. The next thing the three of them knew, a duel gang was running from the factory, and they paid no attention to the fact that the Enforcers were between them and the gate.

"Run! Run away from the witch! She'll set her dragon on you!" one of the guys yelled frantically as they rushed to get away from the factory. Kalin, Crow, and Jack exchanged glances and stared up at the factory before deciding that they would investigate.

"We've gotta figure out where Yusei is," Crow said. And the three teens started moving again, though they were uncomfortable with what they might find. The climb up the stairs was a slow kind of torture for them. However, when they reached the fourth floor, one door was open. They exchanged glances again, and then approached the door. Inside the room, Yusei was bent over a small figure.

"Yusei! You alright, buddy?" Crow asked. Yusei turned his head and nodded, though the way he was holding his left arm told the other Enforcers otherwise.

"I'll live, though I'm not sure I can say the same about her," he whispered, nodding to the body on the floor.

"She can't be any older than twelve," Kalin said. "What was she doing here?"

"She wasn't here to begin with. That gang was chasing her, so I went after them in an attempt to help her. We lost them for a little bit, but she was exhausted. That's why I sent the message. I figured that you might think it was trap, but I didn't have many other options," Yusei explained.

"But the gang caught up to you two," Jack guessed. The raven-haired teen nodded.

"Yeah. She was in no condition to run, let alone fight or duel, so I did my best to protect her. It didn't go quite as planned, though. I think they might have broken my arm," Yusei said. Then he looked down at the girl on the floor. "I'm not sure how, but she made a duel monster come to life when she realized that I was in trouble. It scared them off, but it also caused her to lose consciousness."

"So now what? We can't leave her here," Crow said. Kalin nodded and knelt next to the girl.

"Did she tell you her name?" he asked Yusei. Yusei shook his head 'no.' Kalin sighed. "Oh, well." Then he picked her up, and was concerned when he felt how light she was.

"Damn, she's tiny," Jack said, helping Yusei to his feet. Kalin nodded, worried.

"Let's take her back to our headquarters for now. If nothing else, we'll at least provide her with something to eat when she wakes up. She's too light," he said quietly. Crow and Jack nodded.

The trip back to the half-fallen-down building that served as headquarters for the Enforcers was uneventful. Once there, Kalin deposited the girl in his bed before locating the First Aid kit so he could take care of Yusei's arm. It was, as Yusei had feared, broken, but it would heal. Jack and Crow, however, were concerned. Yusei was a part of their team, and they had planned to attack the Magicians Four within the next week. Without Yusei, the would be at a disadvantage.

"We'll have to postpone our attacks on the other duel gangs until Yusei's arm heals," Kalin announced later that evening. "The three of us should have no problem defending our turf."

Yusei's eyes found the floor of the room, and he sighed. "I'm sorry. This is my fault," he said quietly. Crow shook his head.

"You were trying to protect an innocent girl from a duel gang. There's nothing wrong with that. So our plans got pushed back a little; no big deal. We'll just take care of them later. At least that girl's safe. Who knows what would have happened to her if you hadn't stepped in?" Crow said. Yusei looked a little less depressed.

"Right. And it's not like it'll take years for your arm to heal," Jack agreed. Kalin nodded.

"Yep. Now, I don't know about you guys, but I'm hungry," he said. Yusei sighed and shook his head, smiling.

"You and your stomach," he muttered jokingly. The four teens laughed, and Kalin headed into the kitchen area to cook. Yusei headed to the room he normally shared with Kalin and noticed that the girl was in Kalin's bed. Out of curiosity, he stood next to her bed and watched her sleep. This girl was different, he knew that. But something seemed to draw him to her. Then he shrugged and decided that he would think about it in the morning.

Far away from the Enforcers, in Neo Domino City, four teenagers stood around a Sector Security officer.

"Did you find her yet?" one of the two boys in the group asked.

"She's been gone for almost a month, you must have some kind of a lead!" the other boy added.

"No, we don't have anything yet," the officer said unhappily.

"But—" a red-haired girl started.

"You kids think I'm not worried? Sora's my daughter! I want to find her as much as you do!" he interrupted her. The teens looked amongst themselves sadly.

"She'll show up when she shows up, guys. And knowing Sora, she'll be alive and happy too," the second girl said calmly. This girl had long, purple hair with gold highlights and black bangs. Her crimson eyes shone out with a fierce determination. "It's getting late. We should be heading home."

"How can you be so calm about this, Yuri? Sora's been missing for almost a month, and all you can say is 'she'll show up when she shows up'?!" the red-head yelled. The officer placed a hand on her head.

"Relax, Miyoku. We'll find her. In the meantime, you kids had best take Yuri's advice and head home," he said. Miyoku crossed her arms.

"Fine," she muttered. Then she and the two boys headed towards the residential area of Neo Domino City. However, Yuri stayed behind for a moment.

"Is something wrong, Yuri?" the officer asked. The girl looked at her feet.

"I can't sense Sora at all," she whispered. "I've always been able to feel her, even when you two went to Egypt a few years ago. Now, it's like she's just gone."

"So you lied to your friends earlier so they wouldn't be too upset?" he asked. Yuri shook her head.

"No. Somehow, in my heart, I know that Sora is still alive. But this lack of feeling from her can only mean one of two things. Either she's in a coma, or worse."

**Kairi: So… I'll go ahead and put the next chapter up whenever I get around to re-writing it (since all of the duels in this story are currently in script form, and FanFiction doesn't like that). But past that… if you want to read more, you'll have to let me know, because I won't keep writing this if no one is going to read it. So if you want more, review. If not… then why the hell are you still here?**


	2. Chapter 1, Awake

**Kairi: So apparently everyone wanted to read a bit more, so I'm going to go ahead and post this. Let me know if you're all still interested, because I'm still having problems making this go further.. **

* * *

_**Chapter I**_

_**Awake**_

Yusei woke up the next morning to find that the girl was still asleep. He shrugged and carefully got out of bed. Kalin was already cooking breakfast, and Crow and Jack were still asleep. "Hey," he mumbled, sitting down at the table in the kitchen.

"Hey, Yusei. How's the girl doing?" Kalin asked. Yusei shrugged, then realized that Kalin had his back to him.

"Asleep. Not unconscious, but asleep," he said before yawning. "So what's on the schedule for today?" he asked.

"Jack's got morning patrol, I've got the afternoon, and Crow's getting today off. You get a special job," Kalin told him. "You get to figure out where the girl's from, what her name is, and why those guys were chasing her."

"I'm afraid I can't answer any of those questions," a quiet voice slurred. Yusei and Kalin both turned around to see the girl hovering in the doorway. Her bangs hung over her left eye, hiding it, but her right eye was a bright shade of amethyst that challenged Jack's eyes in intensity… Or at least, they imagined it would when not blurry with sleep.

"And why would that be?" Kalin asked, turning back to the eggs in the pan. The girl stumbled over to the table and sat next to Yusei.

"I don't remember my name or where I came from. All I remember is waking up in the back of an alleyway with a wicked headache, about two weeks ago. Since then, I've been trying to remember anything I can, but nothing's coming back," she explained. Her voice was very soft.

"Whoa, you mean you've got amnesia?" Crow asked, walking in. The girl examined him quietly before resting her head on the table again.

"Yeah, I guess so. Whatever it is, it sucks. And anyways, I don't know why those guys were after me," she added. Then she yawned and closed her eyes. A few minutes later, Jack joined them at the table, and Kalin started handing out plates to everyone.

The girl ate her eggs, bacon, and grits slowly, taking her time to chew everything. Kalin watched her carefully, concerned about her health. Yusei watched her too, though he was more curious about what kind of a life she had lived before he had found her. Once Jack finished eating, he stood up.

"I'll head out then," he said, depositing his plate in the sink. The girl finished her breakfast last, then turned the water in the sink on.

"What are you doing?" Kalin asked her, as he walked back into the kitchen, now fully dressed. Yusei was still in his room, getting dressed himself.

"Doing the dishes. I owe you guys for saving me from that other duel gang," she told him. Kalin crossed his arms.

"Now, I don't really see that as fair," he said. The girl shrugged as she washed the plates.

"It seems fair enough to me. Okay, not quite fair, but close enough that my conscience won't be angry about it," she said. Kalin sighed.

"You really feel indebted to us, don't you?" he asked. She stopped what she was doing for a moment.

"Yeah. I don't even know your names yet, and I don't know my name, so I can't tell you mine. And your teammate got hurt trying to protect me. I feel horrible about it. Helping out with some of the chores around here at least makes me feel better," she told him. Kalin watched as she finished washing and drying the dishes, and helped her put them away.

"Well, we can't call you 'girl' or 'you' forever, so even if you don't remember your name, we've got to think of something," he said. "By the way, my name's Kalin."

"I think I'll call myself… Shadow," she said after a while. Kalin looked at her curiously.

"Why Shadow?" he asked. She smiled.

"Because that's all I have in the place of my memories. Shadows…" Shadow said, brushing her bangs out of the way. For the first time that morning, Kalin saw that her left eye was emerald green, a sharp contrast to the bright amethyst of her right eye.

"You know, I've heard of people having two different eye colors, but isn't the normal combination green and blue?" Yusei asked, walking in. Shadow shrugged.

"Don't know, don't care. So, what's your name? I'm going to go by Shadow, if you didn't hear," she asked.

"Yusei Fudo. The blonde that left for patrol this morning was Jack," Yusei said. Then Crow walked in.

"And I'm Crow," Crow added, walking in behind Yusei. "Hey, I saw you had a duel disk. Do you at least remember how to duel? Because if you don't mind dueling, I'm bored," he asked. Shadow laughed.

"I'll go get my stuff. Meet me outside," she said, running back to the room normally shared by Kalin and Yusei. Crow ran to his room to get his own deck and duel disk, then they headed outside. Kalin and Yusei followed them, laughing the whole way down at the duo's enthusiasm.

It was a nice day in Satellite. The sun was shining and it wasn't too warm or cold. Shadow's long black hair moved slightly in the soft breeze. Her duel disk was a custom-made black one, and she slipped her deck into the slot. Crow activated his and smiled.

"Duel!"

Shadow smirked as she drew her initial hand. "And since you challenged me, I think I'll go first!" she decided. Crow smirked in response, not bothering to argue as she drew her first card. "And I'll start by summoning Galactic Fairy – Ember (Lv.4 1400/1200) to the field in attack mode! And since Ember is the only monster on my field, I can use her effect to special summon another level four or lower Galactic monster from my hand, so I'll let Galactic Hero – Jupiter (Lv. 4 1600/1000) join her!" she said. A red fairy holding a flame in her hand and a man wearing mostly yellow and red with long white hair emerged. Yusei leaned against the wall and smiled.

"Crow's definitely gonna be in a run for his money," he said. Shadow looked over her cards again and pulled two more from her hand.

"I'll think I'll end my turn with a couple of facedowns," she added. Crow nodded and drew his card, trying and failing to conceal a scowl.

"And if that expression is any indication, someone's having a bad draw," Kalin muttered to the teen next to him. Crow shot them a look.

"Shut up," he grumbled, doing little but confirming their suspicions. Then he glanced down at his life point counter. "Huh? Hey! What happened to my life points?!" he cried in surprise, as they had dropped by 500.

Shadow giggled. "Unfortunately for you, Jupiter happened. You see, he doesn't like being on the field by himself, but since Ember's out, he's so happy that he'll be taking 500 of your life points during your Standby Phases," she said. Crow growled.

'_Her Galactic monsters build off of each other, just like my Blackwings,'_ he thought. _'If I can get rid of one of them… Ugh, why'd I have to get this bad draw?'_ He huffed and slipped three cards into his duel disk. "I'll put these three facedown, and I think I'll stick this guy in face-down defense position as well," he said, adding the monster. _'Now if I could just get Bora in here...'_

Shadow smiled and drew her card, not bothering to hide the grin on her face as she added it to her hand. "I think I'll start this turn off by summoning Galactic Fairy – Tear (Lv.2 300/1200)," she said. A black fairy similar to but smaller than Ember appeared, except she held a dark, shifting sphere in her hand. Kalin raised an eyebrow.

"A weak monster like that in attack position?" he muttered. Shadow shot him a smug look.

"I never said she was sticking around long. See, Tear's a Tuner," she told him. Then, as the black fairy turned into a couple of green rings and Ember became four white stars, Shadow turned back to Crow. "And now I'm tuning her with Ember to Synchro summon Galactic Hero – Neptune (Lv.6 2300/500)! And like Ember, he tends to bring friends with him," she said, letting a bald man with pale blue skin wearing dark blue robes appear.

Crow sighed. "You're just having a whole lot of fun over there with your miniature solar system, aren't you?" he grumbled. Shadow laughed.

"My 'miniature solar system' is about to get a little bigger, because the friend Neptune decided to bring along was Galactic Hero – Saturn (Lv.3 1300/2000)," she replied. "Oh, and thanks to his effect, when he's special summoned to the field, I gain 500 life points for each Galactic Hero on my field," she added as her life points rose to 9500.

Kalin crossed his arms. Shadow had three monsters and two facedowns on her field, while Crow had three facedowns and a face-down monster that probably wouldn't hold long against Shadow's planetary brigade. "Hey Crow? Do my sanity a favor and surrender if you don't draw a useful card this turn," he called. Crow glared at him.

"I'd tell you to go do something if she weren't in the vicinity," he warned, nodding toward Shadow. She smiled innocently.

"Let me guess… Starts with 'f', rhymes with 'muck', and probably has the word 'you' following it?" she said cheerily. Crow smirked.

"I think I like you already… even if you are kicking my ass…" he told her. Shadow laughed.

"I'm just having a very good draw. I honestly think I've only been able to use this combo once before, and something tells me I've been using this deck for a long time," she replied. Crow sighed.

"And I doubt you're even done yet," he muttered. Shadow just shook her head, and Crow sighed again. "You done with this turn, or are you going to start attacking now?"

Shadow smiled. "Naw, I'm done. Saturn won't let me attack after he's healed me," she told him. Crow gave in and drew another card, grimacing even before his life points dropped by another 500.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I quit. This is the worst draw I've had in… Sheesh. Years," he grumbled, turning his duel disk off as his life points dropped to zero. Shadow sighed.

"Aw… And here I was hoping you'd hang in until I could drop Solaris on you," she said. Crow gave her a look. "Solaris can only be special summoned by gathering the four gas giants on my field or by letting Nebula Dragon implode by its own effect. I had Uranus in my hand, and Double Summon. One of my traps was Wormhole, which would have allowed me to put Solaris in my hand so I could special summon it… Really, I would have only needed another turn," she explained.

Yusei looked between Shadow and Crow, and smiled before looking at Kalin. He was giving Shadow an appraising look, as if his train of thought had followed Yusei's.

"Hey, Shadow! Mind we have a short talk inside?" Kalin called.

Yusei had a feeling he knew what it would be about.

* * *

**Kairi: And yes, I realize that the duel was crappy, but I was too lazy to research Crow's deck back then and I wasn't going to completely re-write the whole thing. Anyway, review please...  
**


	3. Chapter 2, Teammate

**Kairi: So... Read and Review please. I'm still kinda on the fence regarding this story.**

* * *

_**Chapter II  
**__**Teammate**_

"Wow. Talk about underestimating your skill. How old are you anyways?" Crow asked as they all walked back inside.

"Um, I think I'm about fourteen. At least, that sounds about right. I can't be completely sure though," Shadow told him.

"Fourteen? You're tiny! No offense, but I doubted that you were even twelve yet," Kalin said. Shadow shrugged.

"For some reason, the phrase 'I'm small, but I'm old' seems really familiar. Probably because it applies to me so well," she replied. Crow laughed.

"Yup. Sounds about right," he said.

"Hey, Shadow? Weren't you saying something about feeling bad about me getting hurt because I was protecting you earlier?" Yusei asked. Kalin resisted the urge to roll his eyes, especially as Jack walked in, looking at the girl curiously, as if wondering why she wasn't gone yet.

"Yeah. Why?" Shadow replied.

"What if you joined the Enforcers? Only for a little while, of course," Yusei proposed. Crow's face lit up, but Jack crossed his arms.

"Hang on a second Yusei. For one thing, we barely know her," the blonde said. Then Shadow stepped up.

"Actually, I think it's more than fair to you guys. I've heard from some of the other kids I've met that the Enforcers are trying to rid Satellite of duel gangs so it's safer for everyone. And besides, if Yusei hadn't tried to protect me, he wouldn't have gotten hurt," she said. "Since Yusei's out, I can at least help to pick up the slack. No offense meant, Yusei. I'm not trying to replace you or anything."

"No, that's actually what I meant. I'm not gonna do the Enforcers a lot of good until my arm's healed, but I really don't want us to have to stop what we were doing because of it. If you'd help us out, we'll still be able to work as usual, and you'll probably feel better," Yusei replied. Jack's arms were still crossed.

"Well, I'm not completely sure. I mean, yeah, we need the help, but I don't think asking you to put yourself in danger is a great idea either," he said. Shadow rolled her eyes.

"Well, for one thing, whether or not I'm in danger is entirely my problem. And secondly, even if you did ask, I'd be more than happy to help you guys," she told him. Crow laughed and Jack finally smiled.

"In that case, we'll have to work on the first of those statements, because when you're part of a team, whether or not you're in danger is everyone's problem, because your teammates will stop at nothing to save you! Right, boys?" he shouted. Crow and Yusei both fist-bumped him, but their three fists hung in the air. Shadow smiled.

"You're gonna have to fix that," she said, swinging her own fist up to join theirs. Kalin, happy to see that everything had worked out, added his fist to the circle.

"Right. We aren't all boys anymore," he added, smiling. Jack nodded.

"I'll make sure to take care of that."

* * *

Shadow had decided that the Enforcers weren't actually a duel gang. They were more of a messed-up family that anything else.

She, Kalin, and, for the things that required only one hand, Yusei, were in charge of making the gang's meals. Depending on who had cooked, she, Crow, and Jack cleaned up. However, Shadow also put herself in charge of shower schedules, laundry schedules, and other chores that needed doing around the place, in an attempt to get the messy 'apartment' cleaned up. Kalin often tried to talk her out of assuming this motherly role, but to no avail.

She checked Yusei's arm every day, a routine that quickly rose to the top of Jack's annoyances list. However, despite his own discomfort at the responsibilities that Shadow had taken on, Kalin was pleased with the order that had finally managed to take root in the Enforcers' headquarters.

Shadow had only been with the Enforcers for two weeks when Kalin decided that they had waited long enough. "Meeting on the roof!" he shouted, running up the stairs with his duel disk on. Yusei started heading straight up himself, not bothering to grab his duel disk. Shadow, Jack, and Crow followed him up, each with their duel disks. Shadow had swapped hers out for the standard one used by duel gangs. Also swapped out was her outfit. When Yusei had found her, she had been wearing a rather tattered black dress and black boots. Now, she was wearing gray capris with those black boots, a black tank top, a brown vest that matched those of the other Enforcers, and black fingerless gloves that reached up almost to her shoulders. Her long black hair was bound, and a metal headband held her bangs out of her face, letting her different-colored eyes show.

The roof wasn't actually the roof. It was more like the top floor of the building, since the actual roof had fallen in years before. There was a table up here, which was where Kalin was standing. Shadow had never been up here before, though she had given Crow orders to at least sweep up a week ago when he had grumbled about the bricks from the wall that had come down with the roof.

Kalin pulled out a map and flattened it on the table. Crow, Jack, Yusei, and Shadow gathered around. Well, Crow, Jack, and Shadow gathered around the table, Yusei just looked over Shadow's head.

"Alright, guys. I didn't want to head into Sector 4 until we were all more familiar with our new teammate. Shadow, I've gotta thank you. We're only a week behind now, and we can make up for that easily," Kalin said.

"We're going after the Magicians Four, right?" Crow asked. Kalin nodded.

"Yes. But there's just one problem. Yusei and I did a little recon on these guys before we found Shadow. They switch hideouts every other day," Kalin told him.

"I take it that they don't have a proper pattern, either," Shadow guessed. Kalin nodded again.

"Yeah. But thanks to Yusei, we should have no problem finding them. Luckily, they only have four hideouts. We split up, and search the hideouts. In all of our duel disks are locater chips that turn on when we get pulled into a duel. When one turns on, a signal is sent to the other duel disks," Kalin explained.

"So we split up and search the separate hideouts. But what about the person that finds them?" Jack asked.

"I'm going to assume that they should purposely lose. In which case, we should take an extra duel disk with us," Shadow said.

"Exactly. In the time it would take one of us to start a duel and then lose, the rest of us will be assembled and ready to strike," Kalin added.

"So to sum up the plan, we're gonna split up to find the hideout they're using tonight, and whoever finds them is going to duel them and purposely lose. Then the others will storm the hideout, supply whoever the decoy was with a new duel disk, and we do what we always do and kick their butts. Did I miss anything?" Crow asked. Shadow smiled and shook her head.

"That's about it," Kalin told him. Jack smiled.

"Piece of cake," he said. Shadow nodded.

"Let's get 'em," she added. Then Kalin's fist shot up into the air, and the rest of the Enforcers mimicked him.

"Alright Enforcers! Move out!" Kalin yelled. Yusei stepped back as the others made use of the fire escape outside, jumping down to the street from the second floor. He watched sadly as they left, understanding that while he hadn't been replaced, he wouldn't be able to help them out there until his arm healed.

However, Shadow was thinking about other things than Yusei. Kalin had ordered her to head for a warehouse on the edge of the territory of the Magicians Four. Crow had headed for another warehouse, Jack went to a closed-down marketplace, and Kalin was going to a subway station. It was these three boys whom she thought about as she ran through the streets, heading for the warehouse. When she arrived, the warehouse appeared deserted, but she knew better than that. Carefully, she approached the warehouse and found the door. She took a deep breath.

Then she kicked the door in. It was dark inside, too. Shadow sighed and walked around for a moment, making sure that the Magicians Four wasn't actually hiding. Then her duel disk beeped. Glancing down, she saw that the light on it was flashing green. Green meant that Crow was dueling. So they were in the other warehouse.

She nodded and ran back out of the hideout, heading north for the second warehouse. She intercepted Kalin on the way, and Jack was waiting for them when they arrived. They all waited, listening carefully to what was going on inside. They prepared themselves as Crow lost the duel.

"Be grateful that destroying your duel disk was the worst thing we did to you!" one of the Magicians Four said to their teammate.

"Uh, hey, why is it flashing red and everything?" another guy asked. Crow started laughing, and Kalin smiled and held out his hand, signaling that they were going to wait for a few seconds.

"Because it's a locater," Crow told them.

"A locater for what?" guy number 1 asked. Shadow could see the smug smirk on Crow's face.

"A locater that, when activated by the owner losing a duel, will bring justice down on you," Crow said. "Speaking of which…"

Shadow grinned. "Showtime, boys."


	4. Chapter 3, Trouble

**Kairi: Well, I figure, even if no-one's bothering to give me opinions on this, I can at least keep updating for a while, since I've got through Chapter 13 done. Anyway, I don't own anything. Just, please review.  
**

* * *

_**Chapter III**_

_**Trouble**_

Kalin smiled and Jack nodded, then the three of them busted down their part of the wall. Crow was on his knees on the floor in front of four men, all of whom seemed shocked and afraid when the Enforcers burst in. Shadow threw Crow the extra duel disk she had picked up on her way there from the spot Kalin had hidden it. The carrot-head put the duel disk on and grabbed his deck from the broken duel disk on the floor.

Then the Enforcers went after the Magicians Four. One of the Magicians turned the lights off, but that didn't slow Shadow down at all. She threw one of her duel claws and caught one of the guys easily. Then the duel was started.

"You're gonna lose, little girl," the guy sneered. Shadow sighed.

"I wish you idiots would stop calling me 'little,'" she mumbled. "I'll go first then. I draw! I summon Galactic Hero – Mars in attack mode!"

All around the warehouse, the Enforcers and the Magicians Four battled for supremacy. Within minutes, Crow, Kalin, and Jack were finished. However, Shadow had caught the leader, and it was taking her just a little longer to defeat him.

"And now you're finished! Go on, Galactic Fairy Nebula! Show him who's boss!" Shadow shouted as the largest of the three fairies on her field swooped in to attack her opponent's life points directly.

"You can attack all you want, but the fact is, you still can't do any damage. And thanks to my bomb, your monsters will be gone during my next end phase," her opponent said. Shadow smirked.

"You seem to be overlooking Nebula's special ability. See, when one of my monsters is due to be sent to the graveyard within the next three turns, she becomes immune to the effects of any and all cards. And, thanks to your bomb, that applies to pretty much all of my monsters!" Shadow said as Nebula's attack hit home and an electric current rushed into her opponent's duel disk, destroying it. Then she turned around and walked over to her teammates. "Well, that's done. Next?"

Crow, Kalin, and Jack laughed. "Let's just head home for now," Kalin said. He turned around and the other three Enforcers followed him. When they returned to the hideout, everything was quiet.

"Huh. I wonder where Yusei is," Crow mumbled. Jack shrugged.

"He probably went to bed already. It's almost midnight," he said. Kalin shook his head.

"No, something's not right," he told her. He ran up to the room he and Yusei shared. It was empty. "Yusei!" he shouted. There was no response. Shadow ran up to the room she and Crow had cleaned out for her, and returned with three cards. She activated her duel disk and placed the cards on it, and they came to life. One was the relatively-familiar Galactic Fairy – Shine, and the other two were copies of Asteroid Bird. Kalin came back downstairs and noticed the duel monsters.

"What are you doing?" he asked. The two birds started to spread out, while the fairy floated around lazily.

"Yusei isn't here. So the birds are either going to find him or give us some hint as to where he is, since their sense of smell is about as good as a wolf's, and don't ask me why. Also… I've got a really bad feeling about this," she told him.

"What's pinky for?" Crow asked.

"I pulled Shine out for relaying messages if and when the birds move out of range of each other," she explained. Then one of the birds stopped. It cawed scathingly and flapped its wings twice, hard, before it glanced over at Shadow. "What?!" she whispered, apparently communicating with the duel monster. The shocked look on her face quickly melted into anger.

"What's wrong?" Jack questioned her.

"One of the other gangs has been by here. They took Yusei," she told the others quietly. The bird that had caught the scent headed outside, picking up the trail and beginning to follow it.

"We've got to get him back!" Crow said. Kalin nodded.

"Right," he said.

"Alright then. Follow the birds," Shadow told them. The Enforcers left the hideout for the second time that night. They followed the birds through the streets of Satellite. Kalin carefully kept track of which sector they were in at all times, so that he would know exactly which duel gang had been responsible for the kidnapping of their best friend. Shadow was concerned for Yusei as well. He had protected her, offered her a shelter, and connected her to three awesome friends.

One of the Asteroid Birds stopped suddenly and looked around the area where they were standing, as if sniffing around. Then it reached a door. Shadow quietly looked over the warehouse, wondering if Yusei was inside. The bird stayed stationary and looked over its shoulder at Shadow, who, in turn, looked back at Kalin.

"Alright. There shouldn't be a duel gang in this area, but we'll just have to fix that as we go along," he said. Shadow nodded and approached the door, listening for anything on the other side. Then she opened it, with Jack, Crow, and Kalin right behind her. Inside, it was dark, but that didn't mean anything. Asteroid Bird moved ahead of them, looking for any signs of Yusei. Then he stopped again and started sniffing a large stack of crates. The crates themselves were quite large, but even with two stacked high, a height of about six feet, Asteroid Bird had no problems going over them.

Kalin helped Shadow and Crow up, then they helped Jack and Kalin. Just as the four of them stood and prepared to follow Asteroid Bird, the bird started squawking. Shadow ran straight for the sound, and the others were on her heels. They jumped down and ran along a path made of crates. Hidden behind the crates was a complex maze. In a large, cleared-out area, Yusei lay completely still in a small puddle of blood. The blood was from his left arm, which had been cut open. Shadow pulled her vest off and covered his wound, but she knew that she had to so something more or Yusei wouldn't make it.

"So you came after your pal after all," a sinister voice echoed out of the darkness. Shadow was trying to pull a card out of her deck. Jack, Kalin, and Crow stood up, ready to protect Yusei and Shadow, whom they realized was trying to help Yusei. Shadow removed the Asteroid Birds from her duel disk and put it in her pocket. Then she summoned Galactic Hero – Saturn. Saturn started to glow in a golden light, and that golden light encompassed Yusei as well. The cut on his arm healed easily, and Crow wondered if the broken bone had healed as well. However, as soon as the feat was done, the monsters on Shadow's duel disk were put away. Shine's pink glow disappearing left them in total darkness.

Shadow tried to stand, but fell back down. Then the lights came on.

"It's about time you Enforcers got here. We were getting tired of waiting, weren't we, boys?" the apparent leader said. Shadow growled.

"You know what? I am going to kick your asses. Right about now," she said. Then she pulled out a Syncro monster and summoned it before managing to stand.

"I'm really not in the mood to play fair at the moment, so I'll just give you idiots about ten seconds to run," she added as a dark dragon covered in millions of miniscule dots of colored light appeared. The opposing gang's eyes got big, and they started running. But as Shadow pulled the dragon off of her duel disk, she started to sway.

"Whoa! I think you over-did it a little bit," Kalin said, supporting her. She groaned in response before losing consciousness. Kalin wrapped her arm around his shoulders and started moving. Jack and Crow did their best to help Yusei. Shortly, they were all back at the Enforcers' headquarters again. Yusei was almost conscious, but Shadow was far from it. Kalin laid her down in her bed, then headed into the kitchen to talk to the others.

"That was…" Crow started. Then he stopped and shook his head.

"I know. I'm a little concerned about the way Shadow loses consciousness whenever she uses that power of hers too much," Yusei said. Kalin sighed.

"I'm actually a little concerned about what it could mean for our team," he said slowly. He looked around at the others, but he couldn't force himself to look Yusei in the eye.

"You're not saying what I think you're saying, are you?" Yusei whispered. Kalin closed his eyes, afraid to answer honestly. "We can't throw her back out onto the streets! She's as much a part of our team now as Crow and I are!" he shouted.

"I know that! But if the other gangs find out about her power, they'll start acting differently. And if the remaining gangs formed an alliance against her, not even the four of us and her powers combined could save her!" Kalin argued.

"But that's why we have to strike first," Shadow said, walking into the room. Kalin turned around, startled. "You're right, Kalin. And if the other duel gangs grouped up, I'd run away. I'd run into their hands and dance right back out," she told them. She looked up at them with a sad smile. "I know Satellite now. I know how to survive. If worse came to worst, I'd leave. I wouldn't risk endangering you four."

"Shadow—" Yusei started. She held up a hand.

"But I don't want to have to leave. Which is why we don't have much other choice. We have to take out the other duel gangs, and faster than we normally would. Or at least discourage them from grouping together. Any two duel gangs with any kinds of ties; we take at least one of them out," Shadow said.

"It won't leave as much time for recon, though, which is normally the key to our missions," Kalin said. Shadow smiled.

"Duel monsters roam this world unseen. Even without summoning one into this world fully, I can put more than five to work investigating. I guess it helps that I can see and speak to duel monsters even when they aren't on this plane," she added. Kalin smiled again, and the other teens mimicked the action.

"Alright then. No more talk of cutting Shadow loose, got it?" Jack decided. Yusei nodded.

"Never," Crow said. Kalin raised his fist.

"Once a team, always a team, right Enforcers?" he cried.

"Right!"

* * *

"Yuri, where are you going?" Chinaku asked her friend. Yuri was riding around on something she and Sora had been working on; a skateboard that was designed so that they could turbo duel on it.

"Right now? In circles. Why?" Yuri replied. Chinaku rolled her eyes as the two boys walked up. One of them had black hair and green eyes.

"You aren't going to ride in circles all morning, are you?" he asked. The other boy sighed.

"She might," he said, running a hand through his wild, dark blue hair. He then stuck his hands in his pockets. "But, you're going for Sora, right, Yuri?"

Yuri continued to ride in circles and figure-8's for a few minutes. "I don't know, Aikibo. She's not in Neo Domino," she finally said. Chinaku crossed her arms.

"Then let's go to Satellite and search there," the redhead decided. Kuro glanced at her.

"That may not be such an intelligent idea. Even if we did make it, we'd have duel gangs to worry about," he told her. Chinaku rolled her eyes.

"We can beat them. There's four of us, and admit it; we're all good duelists," she argued. Aikibo frowned.

"But how are we getting there?" he asked. Chinaku sighed, but Yuri never stopped riding in circles.

"Are you dizzy yet?" Kuro asked after a few minutes. Yuri finally stopped and gave the group one of her rare genuine smiles.

"Not dizzy at all, Kuro. But I do know how we're going to get to Satellite."

* * *

**Kairi: Oh, forgot to mention that some names have been changed. (I don't know if I've updated the prologue to account for that yet, but I can't do it now as I'm already running late.) Anyway, Miyoku became Chinaku, Dark became Kuro, and Odin was replaced by Aikibo (since Odin drops in again later). Sora and Yuri stayed, obviously. So, yeah. Also, I didn't realize until I put up Chapter 4 that I forgot to put this chapter up... Oops...  
**


	5. Chapter 4, Mithril

_**Chapter IV**_

_**Mithril**_

Shadow yawned as she dropped the eggs into the pan. Kalin was stirring their grits on the other burner. Yusei, Jack, and Crow had yet to wake up.

"Shadow, you don't remember when your birthday is, do you?" Kalin asked. Shadow smiled.

"Actually, I've started remembering some stuff," she said. Kalin looked at her, as if surprised that she hadn't shared that bit of information. "It's little stuff, like the color of the wall in my room or the pattern of my bed sheets, and I barely remember it later, but I pretty sure my birthday is July 18th. Why?"

"July 18th is only a couple weeks away. But are you turning fifteen or fourteen? You never did figure that out, did you?" he asked. Shadow shrugged.

"Not really. I think I'm turning fifteen though. But why are you asking?" she inquired. Kalin smiled, but didn't say anything, so Shadow sighed.

"I guess I'll just have to wait and see, then, huh?" she asked.

Two hours later, Yusei came back from his patrol with bad news. "There's a new duel gang in Sector 8," he announced. Kalin looked up, startled.

"A new duel gang, or the old one?" he asked.

"New. And it looks like they intend to attack us within the week," Yusei replied. Shadow turned her head to the side and seemed to be talking to thin air, but then she turned back to the boys.

"Nova and Cosmo are headed out, and Ember's already patrolling Sector 7, so they'll pick her up on their way," she informed them.

"Your ability to work with duel monsters is really coming in handy," Kalin said. It had been almost a month since Yusei had been kidnapped. Two more gangs had been defeated, at the exact same pace that the Enforcers normally worked at, and no one had come after Shadow yet. However, since Shadow's Galactic monsters had been helping them out with recon, their attacks had been far more precise.

"You can say that again. Anyways, when are we going to attack the duel gang in Sector 7?" Crow asked, walking into the kitchen. Kalin sighed.

"If we're going to have this kind of a discussion, we'd better head upstairs," he said. "Jack!" he yelled as he started up the stairs. Jack popped his head out of his door, then headed up the stairs when he noticed that Kalin was headed up. The five of them gathered around the table on the top floor.

The map that Kalin placed on the table had black lines marking the different sectors. Many of them were blacked out, marking sectors that the Enforcers had already conquered.

"Alright. With the new duel gang in Sector 8, we're going to have to be careful. I want to attack Sector 7 this Thursday, instead of next week," Kalin said. Then he turned to Shadow, who pulled out a map of the sector in question.

"Unfortunately, I'm getting my information on their hideout from two different sources. Nova says their base is here," Shadow explained, pointing to an abandoned theater. "But Tear claims that their base is over here," she added, pointing to what had been a store of some kind once. "Unfortunately, when I sent them to investigate the two places in question, except sending them to the other, they both said that the place they had gone had been empty. Of course, Tear and Nova don't get along anyways, so they very well could have been lying, but I highly doubt it. It's hard to lie in their language."

"So we don't even know where their base is yet?" Crow asked.

"That's kind of disappointing, Shadow," Kalin said quietly. Shadow scowled.

"Shush, I ain't done yet! While I can't make heads or tails of the information Nova and Tear have been giving me on their bases, I can still fill you in on their battle styles. And by the way, there are seven members in this gang, not five," Shadow told him. Kalin's head snapped up from where he had been examining the map.

"What? Since when?" he asked.

"Since a long time, that's when. There is a set of identical twin girls in this gang. And the black-haired boy we keep seeing that's really feminine? There's a girl that looks an awful lot like him. In fact, they wear their hair exactly the same in order to fool people. That's why we thought there were only five; there are always two people hiding in their headquarters," Shadow explained.

"So two of us will have to be prepared to duel two opponents," Jack guessed. But Shadow shook her head.

"No, actually. The twins didn't have decks or duel disks to begin with, so one of them is borrowing the black-haired girl's stuff. If it comes down to a fight, the twins will likely be left out while the black-haired girl duels alongside her teammates. I sent Ember to make sure that that was still the case, just to be sure. Although since Nova and Cosmo are taking her along while they check out the situation with our new neighbors, it may be a little while before I'm sure about that," she said.

"Alright. I guess there's no reason in asking about the escape routes and such until we know more about these guys," Kalin said.

"Sorry, Kalin. We're working as hard as we can without pushing ourselves too much. However, before you get all doom-and-gloom on me, Venus is back. It looks like we got ourselves another group of move-abouts."

* * *

Yuri was cautious as she moved about the streets. Of course, she had her Duel Board with her in case of an emergency, but she was hoping that she wouldn't have to use it. She, Aikibo, Kuro, and Chinaku had found an uninhabited part of the area and moved in, hoping that they could find Sora quickly. However, they didn't want to be attacked by surprise by a duel gang, so they had decided to send out patrols regularly. If anyone were to ask Yuri about her family, she would have replied that she was a part of Team Mithril. Chinaku, in one of her bursts of boredom, had named them and decided that they should pretend to be a duel gang.

She couldn't help but scowl, however, when her thoughts came across Chinaku's plan to attack the surrounding duel gangs for information about their missing friend. She had already chosen a target, it seemed, and Yuri wasn't sure whether she wanted to simply go along with Chinaku's plan or if she wanted to kill the redhead.

Yuri was so lost in thought that she didn't notice when a small, purple fairy flew right past her with a white fairy and a red-orange fairy behind her.

Nova, Cosmo, and Ember knew exactly who the new duel gang was.

* * *

Shadow looked over the map quietly. The boys had gone to bed a while ago, but she wasn't sure she wanted to sleep. After all, she really didn't want her subconscious to remind her of the things it had already shown her. They scared her, and she really didn't want them to be true, or at least, not some of them. But, as midnight approached, she gave in and headed downstairs.

She stepped into her room to find all nine of her Galactic Fairies floating around. She raised an eyebrow. "Okay, this is new. I don't think I've seen everyone here at the same time. Do I want to know what's happened?" she asked. A green fairy, the largest of them and the only one who happened to be a Syncro monster, flew forward.

"I heard that you had Ember, Nova, and Cosmo checking on the new duel gang, so I sent Shine and Luna to do what you had originally assigned Ember to do. But I also went with Tear, Star, and Sky," she explained. Shadow sighed.

"Let me guess; I'm not going to like it," she mumbled. The green fairy shook her head sadly. "Well, thanks for the warning, Nebula. So, what did you find out about them?"

Nebula looked over at a black fairy. "Your old friends are no longer in Neo Domino City. They've gone missing," Galactic Fairy – Tear explained. The girl sitting on her bed raised an eyebrow, but before she could speak, a purple fairy, Nova, flew up to her.

"Well, technically they're not really missing… Not to us at least," she said. Shadow looked down at her, shock and confusion etched across her face.

"Wait, you mean to tell me that the new duel gang is…?"

"Yes, your old friends," Cosmo, the white fairy, chimed in. Shadow looked down at her hands in her lap quietly. Then, after many moments of silence, she spoke.

"The gang in Sector 7 takes priority. Double all recon parties. I want to be ready to attack the day after tomorrow. I'll keep _them_ out of the way," Shadow ordered. Nebula looked at the black-haired girl worriedly.

"How?" she asked. Shadow looked her in the eye.

"I plan to go talk to them in the morning," she said, as if it were the simplest thing in the world. And, being totally honest to herself, Shadow decided that it probably was.

* * *

**Kairi: So, you're starting to get a bit of the underlying plot here. Not much, mind you. Oh, and I forgot to mention this last chapter, but I've typed up to Chapter 13. If you guys want more than that, then you're gonna have to say something about it, because otherwise my muses will continue to avoid this story, as they have for the last few weeks since I got to that point. Anyway, I'll shut up now. Reviews are nice... (hint, hint)**


	6. Chapter 5, Lurking

**Kairi: Okay, here's Chapter Five... a little late, but oh well. Please Review. (I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh)**

* * *

_**Chapter V**_

_**Lurking**_

"I sent her on patrol over three hours ago! It normally only takes an hour, maybe two if you stop to investigate something. But three?" Kalin ranted. Yusei sighed as he fiddled around with the device in his hand.

"She may have just gotten caught up in a duel with one of the kids over by Martha's," he rationalized. Kalin gave him a look, but Yusei wasn't fazed.

"One hour, Yusei. If she's not back by then, I swear I'll—"

"Don't get your panties in a bunch, Kalin. I lost track of the time," Shadow interrupted. Kalin turned around, startled. Sora was drying her arm, after having obviously washed it. It still looked a bit darker than normal, though.

"Doing what?" he wondered. She shrugged.

"Just a small, personal project that I got a little more absorbed in that usual this morning," she answered. "Oh hey, call in the pack. I've got a shit-load of info on our group in Sector 7, plus some on the kids in Sector 8," she added before taking off up the stairs.

Kalin gave Yusei a look, and he followed her before the blue-haired youth headed out to look for Crow and Jack. Predictably, Jack was sitting by himself in his normal haunt, while Crow was dueling some kids at Martha's.

Once the five of them were gathered, Shadow pulled out a clean map and started using a black pen to label some of the buildings in Sectors 7 & 8.

"What have you got for us?" Kalin asked. Shadow took a deep breath.

"One of the twins has a deck now, they've been sharing. The twin who doesn't have a deck spends one night with the group, one night at the hideout they'll be using the next couple days," she started. "They switch regularly. And unlike the Magician's Four, these guys have a pattern. They'll be back at the abandoned theater tomorrow. That's where the twin will be tonight."

"Can't we just take out the twin tonight and then deal with the rest tomorrow?" Jack asked. Shadow shot him a look.

"She won't have a deck, Jack. One of us is going to have to double up though," she replied. Kalin nodded.

"We won't know until we get there who it will be, so we should all be prepared," he said. "You said you had something on the group in 8, right?" he asked. Shadow sighed.

"Two boys, two girls. One of the girls has a powered skateboard that she built to be able to turbo duel on. The other girl is the leader. Past that… it's gonna take a bit of work. They're not like the idiots the rest of these guys are. The only reason we found out as much as we did is because the two boys were bored when Nova happened to be flying past and one of the girls started yelling at them," she told the boys.

Yusei crossed his arms. "They have a name?" he asked.

"Team Mithril, I think," she said.

"You think?" Jack grumbled. Shadow shot him a glare.

"You try translating 'mithril' into their language, or vice versa," she growled.

Crow sighed. "Alright, you two, enough fighting for now and let's just focus on what we're going to do tomorrow," he interrupted. Shadow smiled.

"Let's switch it up a bit," she said. "Attack during the day instead of at night. After all, that's what the other gangs expect of us, right? And these guys will just be getting to the old theater around two in the afternoon…"

Jack smirked. "You're thinking an ambush," he realized. Shadow nodded.

"The unarmed twin will leave to go get them, and it's a fifteen minute walk from there to their current hideout. We'll have half an hour to get into position, but if I put Ember, Tear, Nova, Nebula, and Luna on the task of finding us places to hide…" she trailed off.

Kalin looked over the map again quietly. "You sure they'll do a good job of that?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because, and correct me if I'm wrong, but don't Tear and Nova have problems getting along?"

Shadow chuckled. "About as well as you and me when we're both in bad moods that aren't focused on the same thing," she replied. "Which is why Tear will be focusing on finding a hideout for you and Nova for me. I'm sending Ember to find a good spot for Jack, since she and Nova are the only two that can stand him, and Nova can't exactly get in his head…"

"Nebula and Luna?" Crow wondered. Shadow sighed.

"I'd send Star for Yusei, but she's been wandering around the city for the last few hours, looking for something for me. Hence, Nebula. Luna's for you," she told him. Kalin nodded.

"Alright. Make sure we're covering escape routes too, alright?" he prompted. Shadow rolled her eyes.

"What do you take us for? Idiots?"

* * *

"Dammit, the kid's gonna leave any minute! Where is she?" Kalin hissed. The girl, as if on cue, walked out of the theater, headed across the road and left their sight. Only a moment later, Shadow's head popped out of the door she had just exited.

"You boys coming in?" she asked. Jack and Kalin exchanged a look, while Yusei and Crow chuckled.

"What happened to meeting up outside?" Jack asked. Shadow just rolled her eyes.

"I got here early, and Nebula wanted me to look into something. And then Star got back from the city, and she and Nebula started arguing… It was fun, in a not so pleasant way. And it got even worse when Ember jumped in, pretty much yelling at both of them," she grumbled.

Kalin gave her a pointed look. "We haven't got long here, Shadow," he reminded her. She nodded.

"You're up there," she said, pointing. Then she put Tear's card on her duel disk, and the black fairy appeared in front of them. "She'll show you the way," she added. Then she turned to look at the other three as Kalin walked off. After waiting a moment, she put three more cards on her duel disk, and Ember, the silvery Luna, and the golden Star all appeared.

"Let me guess, follow them to our hiding places?" Yusei said with a smile. Shadow nodded.

"Yup. Nebula left in a huff, so obviously you've got Star," she replied. He just shrugged as he and Jack walked off. Crow hesitated.

"What about you?" he asked. Shadow grinned.

"I don't need to summon Nova to see her, remember?" she countered before jogging off. Crow just chuckled, while Luna hovered around in front of him. She led him away, into a small balcony that Crow couldn't resist calling a nest. She didn't leave once they were there, either.

"Aren't you going to go back to Shadow?" he asked. Luna shook her head and pointed to a spot above the stage. A moment later, Tear's black glow (it still boggled Crow's mind when he tried to figure out how that was possible) appeared where Luna had been pointing. Star's golden glow and Ember's red-orange popped up on either side, Star on Crow's right, Ember to his left.

"Where's Shadow?" he muttered, looking around. Luna shrugged, then started talking. Crow didn't understand a word of it, which had her exasperated.

She sighed and pointed to something behind Crow, but when he turned, all he saw was his own shadow. He was confused for a moment, before he realized that Luna was trying to explain.

"Shadow?" he guessed. She nodded, then started tapping her head. "Thinks?" She shook her head, tapping it again then miming writing something in midair. "Um… Knows?" he guessed again. She nodded, then looked around. And kept doing it. "Something to do with looking around," he said. Luna giggled and nodded.

Then she pointed to him, and to the three colored spots of light. "Uh… Team?" he wondered. She sighed, though it looked like one of relief, and his guess was confirmed when she nodded. Then she started pointing in a general upward direction. "So… wait, Shadow knows… us or them?" Luna pointed to the door where the other team would be entering. "She knows they… look up?" A wild shaking of the head. "Wait, don't look up?" he amended. She smiled and nodded.

"So, that's why we're all up here," he realized. Luna nodded, then pointed. Up, somehow managing to sit and look very comfortable on the hanging chandelier, was Shadow, grinning about something or another. "Something tells me she's giving the cue," Crow muttered. Luna just giggled.

"I'll be back in an hour, 'kay? I've gotta go let Nebula haul something over from the city," Shadow told them before running off. Kalin crossed his arms before turning and heading back to their base.

"Anybody else getting suspicious?" he asked. Jack sighed.

"She's been running off every chance she's gotten since yesterday morning. You think maybe it has to do with that new duel gang in Sector 8?" he wondered. Crow rolled his eyes.

"Come on guys, have at least a little faith in her. She's probably trying to pull a Yusei," he grumbled. Yusei smiled and shook his head at his friend.

"Do I want to know what you're referring to?" he asked. Crow just shrugged.

"Well, you know. You have a tendency to work on something or other for our duel disks and you won't tell us anything about it until you're done. Maybe Shadow's just trying to keep it a surprise?" he replied. Kalin's angry expression faded almost immediately as Yusei's became thoughtful.

"That's right… And you know, she actually helped out on the last upgrade, so…" he said slowly.

Kalin sighed. "So you mean Crow's theory is probably correct? Man, I wish you guys had told me that sooner. I'd gotten so used to Yusei being the only one that was good with that technical stuff," he grumbled. "Still, what could she need from the city that we can't find or build here in Satellite?"

Yusei frowned. "You realize there's a long list of things, right? But the only things that jump out in my mind are duel runner parts," he replied as they reached the run down building that passed for their headquarters.

"That would explain the oil," Yusei added a little later. Kalin, Crow, and Jack gave him a look.

"What?" they chorused. Yusei rolled his eyes.

"When Shadow came in the other day, she was covered in oil. We didn't notice because she'd already washed most of it off," he told them. Jack crossed his arms.

"So, she's working on duel runners?"

* * *

**Kairi: Oh ho... Finally getting to the good stuff next chapter. Finally! Sheesh...**


	7. Chapter 6, Two Sides

_**Chapter VI**_

_**Two Sides**_

"_When Shadow came in the other day, she was covered in oil. We didn't notice because she'd already washed most of it off," he told them. Jack crossed his arms._

"_So, she's working on duel runners?"_

* * *

"Fuck… I was hoping I could get them finished before you guys figured out…" Shadow grumbled. The boys looked up at the doorway, where Shadow was, predictably, leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed and looking disappointed.

Crow jumped up excitedly. "Wait, you mean you actually _are_ working on duel runners!?" Shadow sighed and pushed away from the doorframe, motioning for the boys to follow her.

She led them down to an abandoned garage, summoning a Key Mouse from the set of 'random' cards she carried to unlock the door. She slipped through, letting the boys in behind her. Then she flipped on the light.

"I can't build from scratch, but I found a couple of barely-broken frames in the junkyard last week and I've been fixing them up since. The part I had to have Nebula track down is one that I can't replicate, not by myself, that is. Don't worry, if and when they realize it's gone, they won't be able to find it again, because I had the built-in tracker disabled already," she rambled. "Speaking of trackers, I've installed a couple that can only be traced by the best of hackers or someone who knows the codes to get in."

"I'm assuming you're planning on sharing?" Kalin chuckled. Shadow raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, I don't know. I might just lock you out of the system," she teased as she slipped under the black one. Yusei was busy examining the dark blue.

"This one looks like an old Security model," he commented. Shadow shrugged.

"Probably was. Like I said though, these guys were falling apart in the junkyard. I just got them painted this morning. All that's left to do is the wiring on that one and making sure this baby'll actually run. If she don't, I'll have to find another engine, which could take me days. I was lucky to find the two I did," she replied.

Yusei poked his head over the seat of the one he was looking at. "Do you mind if I…?" he trailed off. Shadow just smiled.

"Go right ahead," she told him. Yusei grinned and was on his back under the duel runner in only a moment. Crow sighed and gave Kalin and Jack a look.

"They are definitely somewhere else right now," he muttered. Kalin grinned.

"If we can get even these two duel runners working… Oh man, Sector Security is in for the ride of their lives," he laughed. Shadow pulled out from under the duel runner she was checking over to give him a look.

"You realize that if we're gonna test these two, they can't catch us out on them, right? If something goes wrong, like engine failure or whatnot, they'll be on us like hounds on a rabbit. And then we'll get locked up and the duel runners taken away," she said. Kalin rolled his eyes, then a moment later, he sighed.

"Damnit, you're right. And with only a few duel gangs left, they're getting bolder, coming further into Satellite," he muttered. Jack looked thoughtful.

"What if the three of us went after that group in Sector 8 after, say… causing a little havoc for Sector Security to want to look into in that direction?" he suggested. Crow gave him a look, then grinned.

"You mean, create a diversion?" he said. Then he chuckled and looked over at Shadow and Yusei. "Alright, fine. Just so long as we get rides soon too," he agreed. Kalin smiled… well, smirked was more like it.

"How long are you two going to need?" he asked.

Shadow hopped up onto the black duel runner, after having been fiddling around for a few minutes, and started it up. She grinned and revved the engine a couple of times before turning it off. "We just need however long it'll take me and Yusei to get the wiring on the other one fixed up. I'd say we'll be ready by tonight, but I also want to find a couple of helmets, and maybe catch a few Z's, so… tomorrow night. That'll give you guys long enough to decide on what kind of a diversion you're gonna drop on Team Mithril," she told them.

Kalin grinned. "Tomorrow night it is then," he decided.

Shadow had to hide a smirk as she glanced at Yusei, who would be joining her on the duel runners the next night.

"Yes, tomorrow night…"

* * *

"Gah, you stupid Rubies are so… so… frustrating!" Kuro practically screamed at Chinaku. Yuri shot glares at both of the.

"Shut up, both of you. It's bad enough we're not supposed to be here, but getting caught out during a new moon? Damnit, I hate days like these," she grumbled. Aikibo sighed.

"Guys, she said they'd show when they show. That doesn't mean it's likely to happen tonight," he said. "And if they do, just… try not to hurt them. I realize that may be hard for a couple of you," he broke off, looking pointedly at Chinaku and Kuro. "But we're still short too many to make our move yet."

"And I'd rather not have to replace the two of you," a voice added as a small figure stepped out of the shadows.

"Sora, are you sure about this?" Chinaku asked again. The girl rolled her eyes.

"Of course. Just don't hurt them. If I do have to replace one of you, I'd like to have them intact, seeing as how the blonde is most definitely a Ruby… or would be, if he were a Nepcryst," she said. "It's a shame the one I'm turning is so hard to read. But alas, if we don't need him, or not right now, anyway, then we'll just let him go."

"Sora, you're rambling again," Aikibo muttered, brushing dark hair out of his face. Sora smirked.

"And now I'm leaving. Have fun, you four."

* * *

"You three just keep Sector Security occupied. If it comes right down to it, ignore Team Mithril. We'll be back… before you, probably. But oh well," Shadow said. Kalin nodded as Yusei slipped a helmet over his crab-like hair.

"You two be careful too," he warned. Shadow grinned.

"I'll be fine. It's Yusei I'm worried about," she replied. Yusei rolled his eyes and mounted the runner.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Shadow," he teased. She just laughed and started her duel runner up, taking off with him on her heels.

"Come on, let's go distract Sector Security," Crow cheered. Jack and Kalin laughed at his antics, but ran after him anyway. They had set up small explosives in Sector 8, at the far end from where it connected with their territory, and once they were in range, Kalin pulled out the detonator.

"Oh please do us a favor and don't push that button. We don't exactly need Securities down here," a boy grumbled from a doorway off to one side. His dark blue hair shifted in the breeze, while dark teal eyes watched them closely. Crow glared.

"You're a part of Team Mithril, aren't you?" he challenged. The boy yawned.

"Oh for heaven's sake. The name's Aikibo," he replied nonchalantly. His manner was quickly grating on Jack's nerves.

"Where are the other three?" he asked. A squeal rang out as a redhead tumbled from a fire escape nearby.

"Damnit, Kuro!" the girl screamed. A black-haired boy just sat in the fire escape chuckling.

"I'm sorry, you're just way too amusing to listen to sometimes," he said. Crow and Kalin exchanged a look before the blue-haired teen pressed the button on the detonator.

All at once, Kuro, Aikibo, and the red-haired girl looked fearfully in the direction of the explosion. "Yuri!"

Kalin grinned maniacally. "Aw, what's the matter? Was your leader over there?" he taunted. The red-head turned and glared at him.

"No, asshole! I'm the leader. And I'm thoroughly pissed now, thanks!" she half-screamed. Kuro looked over his shoulder.

"Cool it, Chinaku. You remember what Sora told us? She wants these guys alive," he called out calmly. Then he stood and jumped over the fire escape, landing cleanly on his feet.

"Although if Yuri's dead…" Aikibo trailed off. The three of them pulled out duel disks, slipping them on at the same time, as Jack, Crow, and Kalin did the same.

"You'll pay with one of your own," Chinaku added. Kuro's right eye shifted to gold as he nodded.

"You three had best start praying that our friend is alive," he told them.

Kalin, Crow, and Jack smirked at the challenge.

* * *

"Looks like their distraction worked," Yusei commented as they rounded another bend on the old highway. Shadow nodded, lost in thought. He looked over and sighed.

"It's your turn, you know," he commented. Shadow just smirked.

"Oh right, it is now, isn't it?" she laughed as she drew a card. "Alright, I'll start by activating the Galaxy's Will trap that I put down last turn. Thanks to it, any Galactic monsters I summon from here out while it's on the field gain 500 attack points and cannot be attacked so long as they're not alone on the field. But before I summon anything, I'll drop this one on you; the Speed Spell – Supernova Blast! By giving up three of my speed counters, I can wipe out all of your monsters, so bye-bye Nitro Warrior and Speed Warrior."

Yusei sighed as his monsters were destroyed. "Either you've actually had some experience with turbo dueling, or you're just doing really good for your first time and I'm doing badly," he said, noting that Galactic Fairy – Star (Lv.4 1700/1100) was still on the field. Shadow chuckled.

"You're actually doing pretty good for a first-timer. But you're right, I've turbo dueled before… only once I think… But oh well, that's beside the point," she replied. "Because now I'm summoning Galactic Fairy – Tear (Lv.2 **800**/1200). Now then, Galactic Fairy – Star, attack his life points directly!"

"I guess you already figured this out, but I've still got Scrap-Iron Scarecrow on the field, so I'm using it," Yusei said. Shadow smiled.

"That'll only save you from one of them, Yusei," she reminded him as Tear came in around the trap to bring his life points down to 800.

"Sora?!"

Shadow's concentration wavered as a Sector Security officer rode up behind them. Yusei hadn't heard the name he had called out, but he did spot him.

The next thing he knew, pain flared in his left shoulder as Tear's attack landed, causing Yusei to swerve. Shadow turned back to him, worry written across her face, only to turn again to look back at the officer, who had been nearly knocked off the highway by a girl on what appeared to be a skateboard.

Shadow smiled to herself as the two of them disappeared, then looked back at Yusei. "Are you alright?" she called. Yusei's breathing was labored.

"Yeah. What the hell was that?" he asked. Shadow flinched.

"I freaked out and lost control of my power for a moment," she admitted. "Your turn Yusei, and your last," she added.

Yusei drew a card. "That's what you think," he said.

"That's what I know," Shadow corrected him. "Because if Tear attacks you directly even once, you take damage equal to her attack points during each of your Standby Phases. That's exactly 800, Yusei," she explained.

Yusei sighed, but even as his life points dropped, he swerved, then fell. Shadow gasped. "Yusei!? Oh no, oh no, oh no!"

The dark blue duel runner Yusei had been riding came to a sliding halt, Yusei only a few feet away, while Shadow screeched her own black runner to a stop, running over to her friend.

"Yusei! Yusei, say something!" she was yelling as she reached his side. She felt around for a pulse and took a deep, grateful breath that the crash hadn't hurt him too badly. She slipped Saturn onto her duel disk. "He'll pull through, right?" she asked as the Galactic Hero looked him over.

Saturn nodded. "Yes. Here, take his helmet off. You'll have to force him back the moment his crystal starts showing," he replied. Shadow nodded, pulling Yusei's helmet off and brushing his bangs to the side.

What appeared to be a dark line appeared, then started stretching as a golden gem seemed to grow out of his skull. Shadow smiled as it disappeared again.

"A Topaz… beautiful…"

* * *

**Kairi: So, so sorry for this being late. (Maybe if someone would review I'd be less likely to forget about it... hint, hint.) Anyway, the next one is due... Oh, tomorrow... Okay, see everyone tomorrow then.**


	8. Chapter 7, Suspicion

_**Chapter VII**_

_**Suspicion**_

Kalin sighed in frustration as he flipped the light switch on. "Damnit, we were so close!" he grumbled. Jack crossed his arms.

"What was with those three? I mean, seriously. That girl Yuri showed up on her skateboard and said something about an 'Officer Kodai' and they all just ran off," he wondered. Crow shrugged.

"Whatever. Hey, didn't Shadow say she and Yusei would probably be back before us?" he asked. Kalin nodded and started looking around, before he walked into his and Yusei's room.

"What happened?!" he practically yelled. Shadow yelped and jumped, before taking deep breaths to try and calm herself.

"Don't… do that," she hissed. "Especially not right now. I'm wound up as it is."

Crow and Jack joined them. "Why does Yusei look like he's got a fever?" Crow asked. Shadow bit her lip.

"I… Well… You remember how I said that if I'm not careful when I'm dueling, my monsters can come to life and do real damage?" she started. Jack growled under his breath. "Hey, it's not completely my fault… there was a Sector Security officer that decided to drop in right as I ordered Tear to attack Yusei's life points, and… well… if I say her effect is pretty much poisoning the opponent, can you figure out what happened?" she asked.

Kalin's anger faded into worry and fear. "Will he be alright?" he asked. Shadow nodded.

"I was able to have Saturn remove the poison in time, but… it's gonna take him days… maybe even a couple of weeks… to recover from this," she replied. Then, clenching her eyes shut, she ran out past them. "I'm sorry!"

Crow watched her go in shock before looking back at Yusei. He really did look like he had a high fever, and knowing the reason why, the ginger wasn't surprised. Then, after only a moment of thought, he took off after Shadow. She had run out of the building, he knew that much, but where had she gone from there?

He was still running around an hour later when he came to a panicked halt.

"Whoa there! Huh? Hey, calm down, kid. I'm not gonna hurt you," the Security officer said. Crow scowled.

"Yeah, that's what they said the last time I got arrested. Those bruises lasted for weeks," he countered.

The officer sighed, taking his helmet off to reveal short, spiky black hair. Green eyes glittered as he walked over to the startled teen. "Look, unless I randomly dig up some proof that you were involved with the explosion in Sector 8 earlier, I don't have any reason to take you in right now, so you might as well calm down," he told Crow.

The ginger watched the officer cautiously, but for whatever reason, he just couldn't bring himself to be completely distrustful of him. He reminded him of someone, but who…?

"Actually, you might be able to help me," the man continued. Crow looked up at him, confused. "You look like someone who'd know where to look for a kid that doesn't exactly belong."

Crow frowned. "I might. Why do you care?" he asked. The man sighed, and for the first time, Crow spotted the worry lines and sorrow in his eyes.

"My daughter, Sora, disappeared four months ago. Her birthday's coming up soon, I wanted her home by then, but…" he trailed off. Crow nodded.

"I get it. You think she's here in Satellite," he said. The officer nodded.

"You think you could help me?" he asked. Crow nodded again.

"Of course. And I'm sure if I tell the kids at Martha's, they'll be looking for her too. We try not to lose people around here," he replied. The officer chuckled.

"Yeah, I can understand why," he said. Crow sighed.

"Well, on the subject of loosing people, I gotta go find Shadow before it gets too much darker," he said. "But, I'll keep an eye out for your daughter."

The officer smiled. "Thanks, kid," he said as Crow turned to walk away. The ginger had only rounded two corners when he ran into another face he didn't want to see.

"He's pretty nice, isn't he?" the girl asked, brushing black bangs out of crimson eyes. Gold-streaked violet hair fell down her back. Crow crossed his arms.

"Who?" he wondered. Yuri smirked.

"Errol Kodai," she replied simply. Crow looked over his shoulder for a moment, then looked back at Yuri, pointing in the direction he had just been looking.

"That was Officer Kodai?" he asked. Yuri nodded, and he frowned. "Then why did you and your friends run off when you told them he was on his way?"

Yuri sighed. "Because… He'd drag us back to the city if he knew we were here. And I'm not leaving until I find Sora," she replied. Crow looked at her in surprise.

"Why would you pretend to be a duel gang? It's not exactly a playground over here," he wondered. Yuri shrugged.

"The duel gang was Chinaku's idea. Kuro went along with it, which is kinda odd, considering the fact that the two of them don't get along well. Aikibo… well, he has a habit of not caring. And then there was me. I thought it was a dumb idea, but when Chinaku and Kuro start cooperating on something, I tend to be forgotten. Easily," she told him. Then she frowned.

"Something wrong?" Crow asked. Yuri sighed.

"Come on. I still don't want Errol to find me, and I've got a feeling he's headed this way," she said, walking off. Crow frowned and followed her.

"You realize that if you hurt me, my team's gonna come down on your head, right?" he asked. Yuri smiled.

"Relax. I wouldn't hurt you even if I wanted to. I'm under orders, see," she replied. Crow crossed his arms.

"From who?" he asked.

"Sora."

"But I thought…"

Yuri sighed. "Every time she's shown up, it's been an astral projection. We know she's somewhere in Satellite, but until we find her, we can't bring her home," she told him. "She told us not to hurt you guys though."

Crow sighed. "Why would she do that?" he asked. Yuri shrugged.

"Dunno, honestly. But, shouldn't you be heading back?" she prompted. Crow frowned.

"Yeah, I should, but… I kinda have to find Shadow," he told her. "She ran off crying earlier, and I'm worried about her."

Yuri crossed her arms. "You know of any projects she's been working on recently? Because it's been my experience that people tend to work on whatever when they feel they need to wind down a little. Sora had a habit of working on our duel boards whenever she was stressed," she said. Crow smiled.

"Thanks, Yuri. I think I know exactly where she is now," he told her. Yuri smiled.

"Your welcome. I'll see you around, maybe. If we can stay out of Errol's hands for a couple nights while we try to find someplace to relocate to," she said, turning to walk away. Crow reached out and caught her sleeve.

"There's an abandoned theater in Sector 7 that we just cleared out yesterday. It's pretty big, and there are plenty of places to hide if need be," he told her. She smiled again.

"Thanks. I'll definitely look into it," she told him. Crow let go of her sleeve and she ran off, while he headed for the garage where Shadow was keeping the duel runners.

The door, thankfully, was unlocked as Crow stepped in. He smiled, once again thankful for Yuri's help.

"Hey. You doing alright?" he asked softly. Shadow shot a look over her shoulder at him, and it was obvious that she had still be crying recently.

"I could have killed him, Crow," she said, her voice shaky. Crow sighed and walked over to her, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"But you didn't. Yusei knew the risks, heck, we all do. You warned us repeatedly about what you could do if you lost control," he said. He turned Shadow's face so she was looking at him. "I'm not afraid of you, or your powers."

Shadow scoffed and pushed him away. "You say that now, but you'll be singing a very different tune when I've put you in a wheelchair," she growled. At the look on Crow's face, she turned away, putting the tool she had been working with down and hugging her knees.

Crow sighed again and sat next to her, just holding her gently, as if she might break any second. He couldn't find any words, so he didn't say anything.

It couldn't have been more than a few minutes later when Shadow sighed and shifted away from him. He let her go as she wiped her eyes and stood.

"Come on. We'd better get back before Kalin starts wondering about us," she prompted. Crow nodded and followed her as she locked up. It didn't take them long to get back to their base once they had.

Sure enough, Kalin and Jack were sitting at the kitchen table, waiting for them. Shadow sighed and refused to meet their eyes, trudging up the stairs to her room.

Crow was about to follow her, but Kalin's voice calling his name stopped him in his tracks. He sighed and turned to go into the kitchen. Jack's arms were crossed, while Kalin looked plain uncomfortable.

"We received a visitor while you were gone," Jack stated. Kalin sighed.

"It seems Team Mithril is… Well… I'd say disbanding, but the four of them are friends, so they're probably going to stick together anyway," he added. Crow tilted his head to the side.

"Who…?" he trailed off.

"Chinaku. She also asked after Yuri, but since we haven't seen her," Kalin replied. Crow chuckled.

"Interesting, considering I spent a good half an hour just standing around talking to her. You realize all four of them are from the city, right?" he said. Jack looked up in surprise.

"What? Since when?" he asked. Crow shrugged.

"They're here looking for a friend of theirs. And that Security Officer they were avoiding, Kodai? He's their friend's dad," he explained. "Yuri said he'd have them sent right back to the city the moment he found out they were here, and they're really stubborn about finding the girl."

Jack's expression became dark. "What if it's Shadow?" he asked. Kalin's expression mirrored his, while Crow got a sinking feeling in his chest.

"You're right. She just showed up a few months ago with amnesia… If she is from the city, she wouldn't remember it. And a Security's daughter, even? What if she handed us over to her father the moment she remembered?" Kalin asked. Crow sighed.

"You really have no faith in her, do you?" he asked. "Shadow's our friend. Something tells me she wouldn't turn on us so easily."

Jack sighed. "She wouldn't. But if Shadow is the girl these kids and that officer are looking for, we could well be arrested for kidnapping. You know as well as I do how Security is," he said. Crow sighed.

"Yeah, I know," he admitted. Kalin sighed.

"What are we going to do?" he asked. Crow crossed his arms.

"Nothing. We're going to act like nothing's wrong. We'll tip people off, otherwise," he said a moment later. "And we're going to wait for Shadow to get her memories back. We won't know any of this for sure until she does."

* * *

**Kairi: Okay, so it took me a couple of days to get this up... Oops. Oh well, it's up, and relatively close to on time, so no grumbling. And if the last chapter confused you, good. It was supposed it.**


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